Solace of the Asari
by Chaotic Harlequin
Summary: Died a human in the early 21st century, reborn an Asari just in time for the Reaper invasion. Time for one hell of an adventure. Here's hoping that I live through it.
1. Chapter 1

There are a few things l never expected in life. Standing on the Citadel as an Asari is probably the most unexpected thing in my entire life. Both of them really. I'm getting ahead of myself. At one point in time I was a human male living in America. I had just been forcibly retired after forty-plus years in the US Marine Corps as a Major General. I actually enjoyed my retirement and spending time with my wife and children, until Alzheimer's hit. Despite the best efforts of several doctors and my family, I died at the age of seventy-one. I wish I could have spent more time my children, especially my son who might have resented me a bit for constantly being away. He was only twenty-six when I died, as I didn't start my family until I was in my forties. I loved my son and both my daughters dearly. Even to this day, I don't remember a damn thing about them. By the time I was hospitalized, I barely knew who I was.

I remember playing video games with my son, cheering him on when he won or ragging on him when I won. We played Mass Effect together, arguing over the morality of the choices and who to romance. We played Halo and Battlefield, and I remember being so proud when he declared that he wanted to be a therapist to help people. My daughters went on different paths, one joined the Marine Corps as a pilot, and the other was a scientist. My wife was a car mechanic that I met when I had dropped my car off to have it fixed.

I loved them all dearly and I will always hate the fact that I can not and probably never will be able to remember them clearly. They were all there the day that I died. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't fight on for any longer. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was so very weak. I had died, surrounded by my friends and family. Moving right? Except for the whole brain disease thing, but I digress.

That turned out to be not that. To my surprise, I woke up as a baby in the arms of an Asari and an anxious Krogan standing off to the side. My parents. I was their third child and named Myria. I switched it around to Moira when I was older. A name that I knew had some importance to me back when I was human. My parents were dedicated to raising all of their children, and once I turned thirty, I was asked if I wanted to be a huntress like my mother. I eagerly accepted and excelled at it. I also learned how to fight from my Krogan father, who at one point had been a successful mercenary and quite frankly, a terrifying Battlemaster. I spent decades learning philosophy, martial arts and weapons. I proved to be a hell of a pilot, mainly because I would pull stunts that everyone else would consider to risky or insane. Finally, at age one hundred-one, I was ready to set out. I had participated in a few missions in Asari space, hunting down pirates, terrorists and others when I felt the urge to go traveling around the Milky Way.

One tearful goodbye later and I was bouncing across the galaxy for more then ten years until I ended up here, on the Citadel. I stood in the Presidium, leaning on the rail and watching the cars fly by. I held up a purple hand to the sky and watched as the light seemed to flow between my fingers. I inhaled and thought about myself. My markings on my face, black and shaped like one of the constellations near Tuchanka and on the left side, shaped like a constellation near Thessia. My scalp-crests started off like a normal Asari's then the tips changed from purple to black and swept upwards at the tips, reminiscent of my father's head plates. I also had a few sharper teeth, in shape of canines. These days, after over a century in my new life, I didn't think much about the fact that I was no longer human or a man. Every once in a while sure, but these days not so much.

"You look lost in thought. Credit for your thoughts?" A voice to my right said. I turned and looked at a dark-skinned human male and offered a wane smile. Leo Longstreet, one of the first people I met on the Citadel when I first came here a year ago. Matching my 5'11 height, he was more brick-shithouse musculature then my toned dancer strength. A mechanic by trade, he was one of the few people that I allowed to touch my ship, _Serenity_. I dropped my arm and smiled over at him. Leo pulled me into a hug that I happily returned. "Shouldn't you be at work?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Cardus was nice enough to give me the rest of the day off. Nomi and I are going to lunch and you're coming with." I snorted. "And if I didn't want to go?" I asked. "Nuh-uh. You don't get a choice. You're coming to lunch with Nomi, Micah and I." Leo said as he began to drag me along to his wife. I stopped resisting when I heard Micah. "Micah's going to be there?" I asked.

"Yup. It's a family lunch. That includes all of the family. Even the purple ones with the weird fringe tendril things and weird face-tattoos."

"My scalp-crests are not weird! And the tattoos are markings of constellations near Tuchanka and Thessia! They aren't weird either."

"They're a little weird."

"Are not!"

We argued back and forth until we reached his wife, a dark-skinned human with her shoulder length braids tied up in a bun. In her arms was a squirming baby, no more than a year old. "Micah!" I called out, and little Micah gurgled and started laughing. I exchanged quick hugs with Nomi and then had to move quickly to catch little Micah who decided to try and jump in my arms. I held up the giggling baby and rubbed his nose with mine. Micah giggled and made grabby motions with his hands. I ignored him and kept my head out of his reach. One painful incident with his stupidly strong baby-hands and my scalp crests made that a good idea.

I did however levitate him with a biotic field that had him giggling loudly. "So where are we going?" I asked, keeping a close eye on the floating baby. My biotics are powerful, but you have to be careful. "We're going to the Red Star." Nomi answered.

"Don't you work there?" I asked.

"Yes I do. So I get a discount which works great for the purple-black hole that I'm friends with."

"What is this, ragg on Moira day?" I asked petulantly. "Biotics take a lot of calories thank you very much."

"Everyday is ragg on Moira day!" Leo said as he pulled me into a side-arm hug. Whatever I was going to say next was lost by alarms ringing throughout the Presidium. I immediately dropped Micah into his mother's arms and took both Leo and Nomi's hands and started leading them away. "Serenity is a great place to ride this out." I told them. "Shouldn't the arms be closing by now?" Leo demanded.

"Better question is who would be dumb enough to attack the Citadel? There's literally a fleet right there!" I snapped. We reached a taxi stand and I hurriedly started putting in information to get a taxi cab. When it started saying that the taxi services were shut down due to the attack, a biotic infused punch shattered the consol and the remnants blinked a bright green. "There we go, one taxi cab." I said with a smile. A smile that promptly disappeared when a loud whooshing sound followed by a thud. I looked over at the source of the sound and could only stare at this thing that had appeared from out of nowhere.

Unfolding from a crouch this light grey humanoid shape stood up on forward bending legs and seemed to glare at us with a single light blue flashlight eye. "A fucking Geth? What?" Leo asked, confused. As he very well should be as they hadn't been seen outside the Perseus Veil in centuries except for the attacks on the human colonies. All of which is a long fucking ways from here!

Said Geth made some sort of mechanical noise and reached for the rifle on its back and I formed a barrier in front of us. "Get in! Serenity is coded to let you guys in! Stay there and don't open for anyone except for me! If things get to dangerous fucking fly away!" I yelled.

"We can't just leave you here!" Both of them yelled at the same time. Several more Geth joined the first one and started shooting. I could feel the barrier starting to break. I flicked one of my hands back and a small biotic bubble popped in front of the family and made them fall into the taxi. With tearful eyes, they thankfully didn't argue and closed the doors. The taxi lifted off and flew away, and I dropped the barrier long enough to send shockwaves bouncing across the ground, sending the Geth flying into the air. I heard them land some distance away, and I don't think they'd be getting back up again.

I groaned and rubbed my head. I was not dressed for a fight at all! A leather jacket covering a crop top with pants that covered my boots. Not a scrap of armor on me. I of course had a pistol and several knives strapped to my belt, as both of my parents were aggressive in the _Take a weapon everywhere you go_ thing. Biotics aren't invincible after all. I grabbed my trusty M-3 Predator pistol from my shoulder holster and started running. A couple biotic blasts wrecked some more Geth, and I felt proud of myself, right up until the moment a slug missed my head by maybe a couple inches.

I swore and hit the ground. I rolled and fired off a couple shots, which didn't really accomplish anything except making more Geth pay attention to me. That loud machine noise they made when they spotted me did nothing to help my nerves. I don't know if it was their version of talking, or if it was some sort of intimidation thing, but it worked either way. I saw people running this way and that and they ignored my repeated shouts to get down. They paid the price for it. Geth opened fire on them and they went down in droves. They were the lucky ones. The ones that didn't die right away or were caught were dragged over to these tri-pod machines. They struggled until a spike erupted from the base of the machine and impaled them. The Geth walked away, leaving the now impaled people stuck on spikes several feet in the air.

I stood up and grabbed the Geth with my biotics. They rocketed up into the air at impressive speeds, before they slammed right back down at maximum velocity. I turned my attention to destroying these spike-things when a giant white Geth stomped around the corner with several normal sized Geth with it.

I ran.

Yes yes I know. Former US Marine and trained Asari Huntress with a Krogan battlemaster for a father and I ran. But you know what's the one thing that my parents and life itself taught me over and over? There are times when you have to cut and run. No armor, a single pistol with a very limited amount of ammo, no cover and horribly outnumbered and outgunned?

This is one of them.

I ran as fast as I could and I heard the tell tale shriek of a missile as it raced past my head. It detonated a few feet in front of me and put me on the ground. I groaned and pushed myself up, ignoring the pain as the rounds from the Geth rifles got closer. I ran again. I stopped only to grab a cowering Salarian holding a human child. I pushed them both ahead of me and fired off a couple shots behind me.

"Where are we going?" The Salarian demanded. "C-Sec! I'm a huntress. If I can get some weapons we can hunker down!" Another shot came way too close to my head for comfort. "Is that yours?" I asked, pointing at the child. (Who was screeching at a seriously impressive volume)

"Oh um no. I just found it. Didn't seem right to just leave him, or is it a her?"

"Find out later get in the elevator!" I snapped, pushing both of them in. A quick bullet into the control panel and the elevator dropped. We got to the bottom a little faster then I would have liked, as it left all three of us on the floor, thankfully with nothing broken. The elevator doors opened I found myself staring down the barrel of a rifle. I raised my hands in the universal "don't shoot me I surrender". I was still on the floor and starting to get a headache from both the child screaming and the overuse of my biotics.

The C-Sec officer kept the rifle aimed at my face as the Salarian tried his best to get the child to stop screaming. "Stamper stop pointing the rifle at them and help them!" A voice shouted. I breathed a sigh of relief. At least somebody has a brain. The Stamper guy finally lowered the rifle and helped me up. He escorted the Salarian and the now sniffling child to where the other civilians were. I looked around the devastation inside C-Sec. Here and there where Geth bodies, but for the most part, the floor was covered with groaning and twitching bodies in C-Sec uniforms. A good number of them weren't moving, and they would clearly never move again. Fires raged in different spots as people tried to fight them with whatever means they had on hand. A Turian officer yelled orders, trying to bring order back to life. He wasn't succeeding. Chaos and misery ruled in the C-Sec Academy.

I spotted a group of C-Sec moving towards one of the hallways and I grabbed a rifle from someone who never was going to use one again. I scooped up some thermal clips and fell in behind the group. I rolled my eyes at how long it took them to notice me. C-Sec. Heavy on the will, not so much on the skill.

Maybe I was being to harsh, they did just get torn to pieces after all. Regardless, the Turian in charge tried to get me to leave, until I pointed out that A) I am a huntress and B) They need all the help that they can get. He agreed. We moved carefully up the stairs to the upper level and started making our way to the Council Chambers. More of the Presidium was on fire and we saw bodies everywhere, along with people impaled on those damn spikes. Bodies were scattered about, as store fronts were broken with their wares scattered about. We stepped over several of them, and I noted with sorrow that the Asari who worked as a secretary for the Consort hadn't made it. A triple shot to the chest had killed her. At least she didn't suffer, most likely dead before she hit the ground.

These sights never get any easier, no matter where you see them. Kabul, Baghdad, now the Citadel.

We kept walking forward, heads on a swivel, trying to reach the Council Chambers. We never made it. The most well crafted ambush that I have ever had the misfortune of being on the receiving end erupted. Faster than I could hope to react, the three C-Sec in the front were cut down in a hail of gunfire. Gunfire erupted all around us and C-Sec officers started dropping like flies. I formed a dome with my biotics and held it long enough for the survivors to grab the wounded and find some cover. I jumped behind the burnt out remains of an air car and popped out long enough to drop a Geth trooper. A deep laugh echoed through the gunfire and I saw a Krogan directing the Geth. I fired a few shots at him that didn't do much except get his attention. Which is what I wanted. A few choice insults about his manhood and being a pathetic bitch that hides behind synthetics, and he rather predictably charged at me. A Turian next to me started to freak out but I ignored him as I waited until the right moment.

That moment quickly came as I hit the Krogan with a lift and sent him up into the air. A biotic hit sent him hurtling off to...somewhere. Not sure where he went but he wouldn't be coming back down anytime soon.

My victory was short lived as a round clipped my shoulder, spinning me around and putting me on the floor. I snarled and jumped back up to open fire on the Geth, dropping a couple more. I dropped back into cover and slapped some medi-gel on my shoulder. (which stung like a bitch by the way) Two more of the giant Geth appeared and both opened fire. Whatever they were using as weapons ripped through the meagre cover that we had and two C-Sec officers died in a hail of slugs. They died silently and quickly. "We should leave." I told the Turian next to me. "We really should. We'll cover, they escape?"

I nodded. The Turian barked out a couple orders and then looked at me. I nodded and held up three fingers, counting down. At one, we popped up like jack-in-the-boxes with rifles and opened up. Geth dropped like ventilated stones and the other C-Sec officers started to make a run for it. The Turian and I dropped back down as I sent a shockwave to give us some breathing room.

"One more time?" The Turian asked. "Sounds good ummm." I trailed off. "Riktus. Enforcement division."

"Moira."

We nodded and popped up one more time to give the others time to retreat. Then we fell back ourselves, moving from one burning rubble to the next. Riktus might only be part of the Enforcement division, but he clearly learned pretty goddamn fast about keeping your head down and moving. Unfortunately he didn't know all of the ins and outs as he stuck his head up for a little to long and took a slug right in the shoulder. I crushed the Geth that shot him with a piece of rubble and started to drag him out of the way. I had to drop him with a shouted apology to shoot several more Geth that got to close for comfort. I dragged Riktus inside a bombed out store and put him behind the counter before jumping there myself.

"Think the others got away?" He asked from the floor. I placed some covering fire as a few more Turian officers rushed in to join us. They upended desks and moved pieces of rubble with my help. A couple were from the Special Response teams. Or what was left of them. "Last stand?" A Salarian said.

"We'll hold here for now." I said. I looked around. I spotted a human woman who looked like she was about to lose it. "You!" I barked at her. She jumped and looked at me. "Yes you. Go out back and find any exit you can. When you find it, give a shout and let us know. We'll fall back by small groups and get some reinforcements and try again for the Council Chambers." The authority in my voice cut off any arguments they might have had and the woman jumped up to run to the back of the store. I heard a lot of clattering and breaking as she tossed things aside, looking for the exit.

My omni-tool beeped and I activated the comm. "Moira! It's Leo. We made to Serenity and we're inside. Nothing's happened here. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Leo. Stay with Serenity. As soon as this is dealt with I'll be down to see Micah."

"Micah? What about me?" Leo asked in a mildly aggrieved tone.

"What about you?" I answered.

"Oh. That's hurtful." I laughed and a few more good natured insults passed between us before a slug slammed into the building. "Moira what was that?!" Leo demanded. "Nothing big just something to deal with." I said as nonchalantly as I could. A few more slugs smashed into the building. "Woops. Have to go. Bye now!" I hung up on him before he could say anything.

"Everyone get ready! We only have to hold long enough for what's her face to find us an exit. Conserve your ammo and make your shots count!" I yelled. Grim faced C-Sec officers nodded and leaned into their rifles, ready to fight. The first group of Geth were shot to pieces and we didn't take a single casualty. Riktus had finally bound his wound and was up and shooting as well. Our group let out a ragged cheer. They let out an even bigger cheer when C-Sec girl shrieked that she had found an exit. At my direct orders, they began breaking off in groups of two or three to make their way out back.

I bared my teeth and waited. These Geth were something else. If I had my armor and some people from my unit, this would be another story. But if wishes were ships then beggars would fly. Three of the giant Geth led the charge against us. We braced and waited, dropping one of the larger Geths. Before they could do any damage, burning debris slammed into the ground in front of the store. Not going to lie, I let out quite the un-huntress like screech. In my defense, in the 117 years of my second life, I have never had a moment where I was about to engage in a massive firefight, to have it interrupted by pieces of debris landing on top of us. We celebrated this turn of events, a piece of debris hit the building. It didn't directly hit any of us, but it did pass by close enough to set the arm of a human on fire. He shrieked in pain as he rolled around trying to put his arm out. His companions helped and eventually they managed to put him out. I dropped the rifle and blue lights erupted all along my body as I created a barrier. Everyone crowded around me, and the woman who had found the exit earlier ran back in with the few others that had managed to get out the back. Guess they thought that this would be safer or something.

For a few minutes, I thought that things would go well, and that we would be okay. I kept right on thinking that until an especially large piece of debris that looked black as space itself and crackling with red lightning hit the ground and ricocheted into my barrier. My barrier held but I felt like my skull had been split in two. I dropped to one knee and tears started to fall.

"Can't..hold….against…..another…...hit...like….that." I ground out. I forced myself to stand, teeth gritted against the pain. Several more hits while smaller knocked me right back down to one knee. "Moira! Moira! It's okay, the debris has stopped!" I opened my eyes to stare at Riktus's concerned face. "It's done?" I asked, my voice a whisper. "It's done, you can drop the barrier." Arms shaking in relief, I dropped the barrier and collapsed. Riktus and another caught me and gently put my arms around their soldiers and lifted me up. Slowly we all walked outside, wary for another ambush from the Geth. We didn't have to worry. The Geth that were outside were smashed to pieces by the debris, a pieces of Geth were scattered all over the area, few if any of the bodies were intact.

"Our home." One C-Sec officer whispered, tears in his eyes. I looked around. The Presidium had been burning before in the attack, but now it was demolished. Entire sections of it were taken out, and from where we stood we could see fires burning through the wards.

"Get back...to the academy. Open up comms. You can still save lives." I whispered. "Not gonna be much help. So tired."

"I think you've done enough." Someone said. I think it might have been Riktus, but I wasn't to sure. My vision blurred and my legs refused to support me. My last thought before unconsciousness claimed me was that I desperately needed to train. I don't know what the hell happened to cause this attack, but I would find out. I remembered something my father told me, of training that he had one in a moment of insanity. He went to a death world worse then Tuchanka and spent a year on there. I would do the same. I would be ready for whatever it was that caused this, because this was only the beginning.

I would go to Eingana.

_Hope you all enjoyed that. A couple notes, first this is not a self-insert. I'll leave it to Bioware to finally give us a Mass Effect game where you can do that. If they ever do. Wish they had done that with Andromeda but whatever. A head-canon of mine is that Asari take a little bit of their appearance from their fathers, and have slight differences in appearance because of that. I don't know why they couldn't do that in the game proper, but I'll just chalk it up to the difficulties of making a game in general. If you have a problem with this, I am happy to discuss it in a polite manner. _

_-C.H._


	2. Chapter 2

The thrusters of the ship fired, and my father slowly brought _Serenity_ to a hover over a small field. "I still think that this is a terrible idea." He rumbled. I patted his green-brown plates and laughed when he gave an annoyed rumble. He always hated that. Which is probably almost certainly why I did it. "You did it, so I don't see why I shouldn't." I responded.

"Yes, but I am an idiot. What's your excuse?"

"That I'm also stupid. And paranoid." I frowned. "If you're stupid, what does that make mom?"

Dad laughed, and he always had the best laughs. A deep bellyful laugh that would echo across wherever he was. No matter the century, I would always remember and treasure that laugh. I looked over his scarred face and smiled. I don't remember my human parents, but I like to think that they were like the ones I have now. Supporting, firm but fair. All together good people. I did need a lot of guidance to navigate this verse, but not so much on being an adult. I like to think I was one sometimes in my previous life.

"It makes your mother a gorgeous woman who married beneath her." He said. I groaned and hugged him. Actually I hugged around his head and neck as much as I could because he was still flying and full grown Krogan that are around seven hundred years old are frankly massive people. He laughed and clapped one hand around my arm. "Mom loves you. She didn't marry beneath her and we all love you."

"Really think so Kicker?" Calling me by my nickname that I had earned from my habit of kicking everything that annoyed me. What? It's a pretty effective way of solving problems. I rolled my eyes. "She had nine kids with you. What do you think that says?" I asked. "And don't make any mention of how good you are in bed. I'm still mad about walking in on you two in the family room."

Dad rolled his eyes. "That was almost thirty years ago! Aren't you going to get over it?"

"No! You have a bedroom for a reason!" Dad scoffed and switched _Serenity_ into a hover. "Don't want to stay long, unless you want something to bring your home down." He said. Seeing as I didn't, I grabbed my pack and jumped out of the ship with a shouted goodbye. I landed and rolled a couple times until I came to a stop and jumped up. If anyone had seen that, they would have assumed that I had practice and planned that practiced that jump instead of seeing the ground for the first time.

My smirk at my successful landing fell off of my face as I looked around. Eingana was a jungle planet that was overgrown and had little to no settled colonies. Mainly because anyone that tried to make a living here usually ended up in something's stomach. Only the bravest smugglers or idiots trying to improve themselves (IE me) come here. This field was one of the open places and while it was a good place to land, it was a terrible place to stay. Time to hit the trees, get a lay of the land and find a place to make camp. I had just taken my first step when the tree branches cracked and this giant bus sized fuck-off reptilian thing stepped out of the jungle. It had the narrow snout that reminded me of the Earth monitor lizards and its jaws were filled with more large sharp teeth than a predator of that size should really need. (Then again for a creature of that size any number of teeth are too many) It walked on a total of six legs, the back four looked like normal lizard feet, save for ending in long dangerous talons. Its front two legs looked like a bigger problem than the long whip tail that twisted lazily behind it. The front two limbs dragged on the ground until the lizard-thing brought them up they were clearly visible. Long wicked scythe like talons extended from the front two limbs. It had sword arms. Who needs sword arms?

The cherry on the craptastic cake is that small biotic fields popped along his body. I sighed and dropped my bag. "I don't suppose that you could just go away?" I asked, already knowing the answer. The lizard-thing opened its jaws to an impossible wide angle and gave a shrieking roar and charged. Despite being the size of a bus, the damn thing moved pretty fucking fast. I squashed my fear and formed a bubble around my fists.

"Alright! Come on then!" I roared out and charged the beast. A split second before he could reach me, I jumped into the air and used my biotics for an extra boost. I barely missed its jaws and slammed the creature's face into the ground. My victory was short lived as the tail whipped around and hit me in the stomach. I barely got a barrier up and even then it was like getting hit by an air car. I flew back and bounced off of the ground until I came to a groaning painful stop a couple feet later.

Lizard-beast thrashed on the ground for a second until it righted itself and glared at me with way too much hate in its eyes for any creature. I spat out a little bit of blood and charged up my biotics.

"I'm still here you Godzilla wannabe. Come on!" I yelled.

The creature charged, roaring the whole way.

_2 years later_

I groaned as the nurse peeled off the bandage. "You're in luck." She said cheerfully. I glanced over at the blond. "Are you sure about that?" I asked, not all that sarcastically. How they could have faster-than-light travel and all of this other technology but not make easy to remove bandages? "I think you are. No scarring or infections. You're all better! Please try not to get shot again."

"No promises." I cheeked, only halfway joking. The life of a huntress wasn't easy. I looked over at the gorgeous blond. I don't know where the Citadel hires their nurses, but a good number of them are extremely easy on the eyes. "Though" I started to say and then trailed off when I saw the gold band around her ring finger. "Yes?" She asked, and I shrugged. "Sorry lost my thoughts. Still no promises."

She rolled her eyes and shooed me out of the room as soon as I was dressed. Nomi and Micah were waiting for me in the waiting room. I had barely stepped into the room when Nomi almost ran me over and I again had to catch Micah before he could hit the ground. Babies. Suicidal little things.

"I'm fine." I said, answering her unasked question. Nomi looked like she didn't believe it, but I lifted my shirt and showed that the bullet wound was now gone. Nomi's eyes watered and I quickly moved to pull her into a hug. She sniffled a mountain of thanks and I took her hand and led her out of the hospital and back to her place. I had come back to the citadel after spending a year on Eingana and then a year on Tuchanka visiting my father's clan, Clan Urdnot. I was visiting Nomi at her work when she had been accosted by some thug who didn't understand what no meant.

So I broke his arm.

Turned out that he had friends and they tried to get revenge. C-SEC has the broken survivors now. I didn't escape completely unscathed as one had gotten a shot off and got me in the stomach. I'm going to start wearing armor everywhere I go. First the Geth and now whoever the fuck these guys were. I'm starting to think that I am sort of bullet magnet. Even for a huntress this is verging on ridiculous.

I hadn't come here just to visit my friends. I had also came to find any information on Shepard that I could. I knew that the Reapers were coming and she seemed like a good place to start. I mean she had talked to Sovereign. I had broken into the Council chambers and scared the crap out of the human councilor Anderson. It stopped being funny when he had punched me in the face. Hell of a right hook for an old guy. As grateful as he was that I believed Shepard about the Reapers, the sad fact was that she was dead.

Defeated on that part, I had asked for any scrap of information on the Reapers that I could get. In exchange, I volunteered to look into the disappearing Human colonies. First, visit some friends and then visit that shithole called Omega. The pirate queen Aria T'loak either knew everything or knew someone that did. Seemed as good as a place to start anyways.

First things first, visit friends, help them out with their issues (get shot for doing so) and now to leave for Omega. After more promises to be as safe as I ever am, I hugged Micah and Nomi goodbye and left aboard _Serenity_. My small Asari built ship was as much my home as Thessia or Tuchanka. I loved the old girl dearly, and not just because I bought her. The small ship was Asari built and reminded me of the ocean. A deep ocean blue and shaped like an Asari Republic corvette, though much smaller and less armed.

_Serenity _hummed to life and I guided her out of the Citadel and towards the Relay. The giant device would hurl my ship at impossible speeds, allowing me to visit different parts of the Milky Way Galaxy. I didn't even begin to understand the math behind it. I just fly and shoot things. I pulled up close to the Relay and watched as a bolt of light reached out and grabbed my ship. _Serenity _glowed a light blue until I was hurled forward through space many times faster than the speed of light.

Omega. What a fucking shithole. I was there once, a few years ago helping my squad chase down a slaver. We successfully killed him, then spent the better part of two days slaughtering a band of pirates that chased us all over a station. Idiots. Chase of a band of Asari huntresses. Anyways! Omega was a hollowed out asteroid that had been used for mining at some point. I think. Either way, whatever its original purpose, now it was a breeding ground for gangs, pirates and the desperate with no place to go. Violence and murder are daily things along with slave gangs and the like.

A wretched hive of scum and villainy worse then Mos Eisley.

When I landed in one of the hangers, I grabbed my armor and weapons. Even if recent events hadn't happened, there was no way in hell that I was going to walk around Omega unarmed and or unarmored. My ever so trusty vindicator assault rifle, one acolyte pistol and one M-5 pistol. My armor started off as a sort of conforming black one piece suit with plates of blue-grey armor over it. Various bones were strapped to my arm and leg greaves, giving me a sort of barbarian look. A collapsible helmet hung around my neck, waiting for me to activate it. The final piece and my favorite part was the deep ocean blue sleeveless ankle length leather long coat. Complete with a hood. That Zilla thing that I fought on Eingana proved to be my most dangerous and recurring foe. We fought time and time again and he nearly killed me when he once got the drop on me, giving me a nice scar on my back from my left hip to my right shoulder.

I swore I wouldn't leave Eingana until the killed the bastard. Lo and behold three weeks later I did. Instead of him eating me, I killed and ate him, and now his bones and skin were my armor and also a hell of a blanket. His skull was also mounted on the wall behind my bed. Chameleon bastard. I won that particular fight thank you very much.

After triple checking that _Serenity's_ security locks and the self-destruct where in place and working, I pulled the hood up to cover my face and entered the shithole in space, Omega. I pushed my way through the crowds, only stopping to bend a pickpocket's arm into an unnatural angle until he gave me back my money.

The Afterlife club was my destination, where the Pirate Queen Aria T'loak ruled Omega. Hopefully she's in a good mood. If not, then I hope she's in a pragmatic mood. I had just gotten into Afterlife when I spotted an odd group of people making their way towards Aria. One was a heavily scarred human male in yellow armor, along with an amazingly gorgeous woman with shoulder length hair in a tight whight leather outfit, complete with black gloves and knee high black boots.

Hello beautiful!

The third person, leading the group was who really caught my eye. Ear length red hair that stuck in all directions, and when she turned she had piercing forest-green eyes that seemed to see everything. Her pale skin and the small scar on her eyebrow were the final parts that put it all together. _Skye Shepard is alive?!_ I knew it! I knew that she couldn't be dead! She defeats the Reapers! Somehow.

I shoved my way through the people towards them. "Shepard! Skye Shepard!" My voice cut through the noise of the club and all three of them turned towards me. I got as close to them as I could before the man and the woman put their hands on their weapons.

"Hold it!" I said, holding my hands up and palms out. "Not here to fight. My name is Moira. Moira T'sovik. I'm a huntress." I dropped my hood and gave what I hoped was my most charming and friendly smile.

Shepard waved her companions to relax and they did, maybe an inch or so. "I'm here to help with the Reapers. Councillor Anderson gave me some information about them in exchange for looking into the disappearance of human colonies in the Terminus systems."

Shepard stared at me long enough that I quickly became uncomfortable. "You believe me? Just like that?" She asked in that rich voice of hers.

"Umm, yea? I was there on the Citadel when Sovereign attacked. A piece of that bastard landed on me and nearly killed me. Pretty convincing."

Shepard was again silent. "Wow. Someone actually believed me and they aren't with Cerberus."

I frowned. "Who the hell are with those bastards?" I asked, glaring at the male. He frowned and jerked a thumb at the woman, who was now glaring at me. I looked at her, and noticed the symbol for Cerberus on her suit, just above her sizable breasts. (Which were larger than mine) "You're with those speciest bastards? Guess you aren't perfect after all."

A barrage of emotions danced across her face, including what I swore was genuine happiness at being told that before her face slammed back into annoyed controlled neutrality. I dropped my hands after it became clear that they weren't going to shoot me. "You know that it's dangerous coming with us?" Shepard asked. The woman spoke up, "Shepard, I don't think it's a good idea-" Shepard cut her off. "We can use all the help we can get."

"I ran with the Suicide Pack during my eighties and nineties. I can handle myself." Shepard shrugged and introduced the two, Miranda and Zaheed. I fell instep with them as Shepard led the way towards Aria. "You ran with the Suicide Pack?" Zaheed asked in his gravely rough voice. "Aye. One of the first members. You've heard of us?" I asked. "Only rumors. I thought they were a pile of goddamn bullshit."

I laughed. "If I hadn't lived it, I would think so to!"

"I'm sorry, but what or who the hell are the Suicide Pack?" Miranda asked. Her accent was definitely Australian and easy on the ears. If she wasn't part of Cerberus or breathed that queen-ice-bitch air, I would be trying to kick her legs out from under her. "Suicide pack, or squad or whatever you want to call us is a group of Asari and others living in Asari space. We were sent on suicide missions on a regular basis."

Miranda hummed. "I guess you have some skill then."

"Oohh careful there Randa, I might start to think that you might like me."

That got me a disgusted scoff and a magnificent eye roll. I smirked and that got me another eye roll. Until a thought hit me. "How big is the hanger on your ship? I have my own and don't want to part with her. Seeing as she is my home."

Shepard who had been walking in front of us suddenly appeared to my left. When did? "What type of ship is it?" she asked. I pulled out a small pad and showed her a basic schematic of _Serenity._ "Miranda?" Shepard asks.

Miranda also took a look at it. "It'll fit. Might be tight, but _Normandy_ has room." I beamed at the news. I wouldn't have to give up my home! Which was great because I had no idea on how I was supposed to get it back to Thessia if I couldn't. Autopilot maybe?

We strode through Afterlife and Shepard once again took the lead with Miranda following close behind. Zaheed and I trailed back a little bit and traded war stories, though I admit to being slightly put off with the number of stories that ended with his team getting killed. The US Marine in me combined with the Asari huntress didn't like that at all. I still found myself liking the guy, as he did tell some good stories and didn't have anything to say about my stories except maybe an appreciative goddamn! Didn't know someone could put that many goddamns in a sentence.

While Zaheed and I had been talking, Shepard had met Aria and was on the couch talking to her. Since I had found Shepard, I didn't really need to talk to Aria, and I honestly doubted that she would remember me anyways. I hung back and listened as she talked about Mordin, and appreciating his efforts to combat the plague and his willingness to shoot people if he couldn't help them. I liked him already.

Archangel had somehow managed to piss off every single merc band on this shithole of a space station, which is really impressive. Getting the Blue Suns, Eclipse and the Blood Pack to work together? I can't recall of a moment when that had happened. Shepard thanked Aria for the information and got up. Just as we all started to leave Aria spoke up. "Moira. James is still looking for you."

I groaned and rolled my eyes. "I thought he was dead." I grumped.

"You're not that lucky." Aria said and then jerked her head towards Shepard. "Good luck." Not hard to recognize that dismissal and I left, pulling my hood up and obscuring my face. "So who's James?" Shepard asked after I caught up.

"Ex-Boyfriend. Long story short I met him after I left the Asari Republics to do a bit of exploring about twelve years ago. At the time he was a small time smuggler. Ran with him and his brother a bit. I helped smuggle some things and they gave me information on the Terminus systems that I passed onto the matriarchs. When they wanted to make some more money selling some people to either Khar'shan or the Collectors and I disagreed and we had a falling out."

Shepard gave me a sidelong glance. "You'll tell me the full story on our way to Archangel."

"And if I don't?" I asked.

"Nothing. I just won't be able to help you if you don't tell me." I stared at her and didn't see anything that looked like she was joking. I shrugged and left it alone. We entered one room in question at the bottom of the stairs and a Batarian in Blue Suns armor looked up and scoffed at Shepard. "Stripper quarters are that way." He said. Sexist pig. Shepard rolled her eyes and pulled out her pistol. "Bet mine's bigger than yours." She said softly. The merc chuckled and began the standard spiel about being freelancers, getting paid afterwards and no we would not become members of any of the gangs.

After he finished talking,we turned to leave and past a kid I swear was no older than eighteen, excited about going to fight archangel. I looked at the kid and scoffed. "Dead in the first wave." Zaheed and I said at the same time. "Not going to live through this." Miranda added.

Shepard seemed to agree as she turned and asked how old the boy was. "Hey I'm old enough! Besides I just bought this and I want to use it!" He said as he pulled at a shuriken that honestly looked like it had seen better days. Shepard grabbed it and smacked it a couple times, jamming the heat sink. "Get your money back." She told him. As we walked past him I whispered "She saved your life."

The flight from Afterlife to the staging area was unremarkable, as the Blue Suns driver didn't say anything to us and Shepard took the moment to grab a quick nap. I had fished out a book about the Vietnam War and was reading it, content to ignore the grumpy mercenary and Ice-Queen. Ice-Queen did raise an eyebrow at my choice of reading, but didn't say anything. Probably surprised that an alien would express interest in human history. To start, I wasn't going to admit that in my previous life I was pretty sure that I had fought in that war in some capacity, and even if I hadn't, there were some valuable lessons for the Asari. I had my purple ass laughed off of Thessia when I would keep pointing out that guerrilla warfare wasn't really sustainable for every major conflict and that the Asari needed to change.

But nooooooooo why listen to some young adult? What could she possibly know about anything?

My internal rant ended when the taxi landed and we climbed out. I had to do a little stretch to get the feelings back in my legs after being squished between the two in a car that wasn't really supposed to seat five people. I joined them just in time to listen to a Batarian calling himself Salkie introduce himself and celebrate that people who actually looked like they knew what they were doing was hired. He quickly and eagerly passed on what he knew. Long story short, Arcangel had barricaded himself in a building at the other end of the path and the only way forward was across a bridge. Freelancers would lead the way (of course) and then that bastard will finally be killed.

After finding out that we were supposed to talk to a Sergeant Cathka and moved on. We had just past the barricade when the top half of a freelancers head was blown off. Hell of a shot. I like this archangel. We moved around the well for a lack of a better term Forward Operating Base, under the direction of someone named Edi sabotaging the mechs, stealing anything that wasn't bolted down and I dropped a couple timer grenades in corners near the Blood Pack. We finally found Sergeant Cathka fixing a gunship, and the Batarian was nice enough to exchange a few pleasant words with us before word of the attack came down. Just as he turned around around to finish working on the gunship, Shepard quipped "You're working toward, you should take a break." and slammed a welding tool right into his back. He started screaming and convulsing on the ground as Shepard ignored him.

She nodded to us. It's go time. My helmet unfolded from the collar and covered my head and face. The skull design on it complete with the hood looked pretty intimidating. Should hopefully get someone to hesitate, even for a second. If not, well it looks cool. We vaulted over the barricade and fell into an easy diamond shape formation. Moving to cover, we waited until Shepard said "Now." Zaheed didn't hesitate. Old scarred bastard that he might be, he turned and gunned down the closest freelancers with hesitation of before they had a chance to react. Only Shepard was a little faster. I trapped a couple freelancers in a biotic field and Ice-Queen smacked them a blast of her own, sending them over the side of the bridge. They disappeared, screaming. A loud explosion grabbed our attention and the remains of several freelancers lay scattered around a burning barrel.

"I think we're clear." I said cheerfully. "I think she's right." Shepard said. We double timed it across the bridge and into the building. Once inside, it became a five minute matter to deal with the couple freelancers that had gotten inside and were trying to hack the door open. They didn't get far. A few bullets and that was that.

The door opened and we moved inside the room, spotting Archangel, who apparently is a Turian in blue and black armor. He held up one finger to us, and we waited as he took a shot a dropped a freelancer with a wonderful headshot.

The Turian turned and removed his helmet. He looked like a standard Turian, mandibles and blue face-paint that were stripes across his face. Goddess he looked so exhausted! His mandibles were hanging a little loosely, and he moved a little stiffly, as if the energy was slowly bleeding out of him. "Garrus!" Shepard shouted. I was nearly taken back at the joy in her voice, where before it was calm cool and collected, now it was filled with such joy that I almost thought someone else had spoken up. As Shepard and Garrus quickly caught up, I directed Zaheed and Miranda to look around and take stock of everything and move the furniture around to create cover. A gunshot got our attention as Shepard stood up and handed a sniper rifle back to Garrus.

"Eclipse is coming. Everyone get ready!" Shepard called out.

We ran to the windows and sighted down the weapons. The first wave of Eclipse mechs backed by their troops started making their way across the bridge towards us.

Right.

This is where the fun begins.

_I refuse to believe that in the future with casual space travel, that they don't have collapsible helmets like seemingly every other story these days do. That's my headcanon and I am sticking with it. Hope you all enjoyed._

_-C.H._


	3. Chapter 3

I grinned and threw a shockwave across the bridge. The biotic blasts erupted along the floor of the bridge, scattering LOKI mechs and Eclipse mercs everywhere. I grinned and cheered as they scattered, with one merc even rolling off of the bridge! Hah! Between the five of us, Eclipse wasn't getting anywhere. If they somehow made it past the sniping combo of Garrus and Shepard, they were gunned down by myself, Zaheed or tossed about by either Ice-Queen's or my biotics. It was easy going until Jaroth, the Salarian in charge of Eclipse had a YMIR mech stomped into the fight.

Mercs cheered at the sight. Right up until the mech opened fire right into their faces. Then they started screaming. I'll say this though, they were some exceptionally trained mercenaries as they quickly got over their shock and opened fire on the mech. They divided themselves up with some shooting at us and others shooting at the mech. They lost a couple people before the mech started to glow and a warning tone warbled. A second later, the YMIR mech exploded in a flash of light that had us all ducking.

Quickly peeking back up, we downed the last few mercs who hadn't been killed by bullets or the explosion. "I see Jaroth." The Turian called Garrus said.

Jaroth, the Salarian in charge of this branch of Eclipse. The angry type since Garrus had killed his brother. Normally I would have sympathized, but both were drug dealers soooooooo

They deserved it. Jaroth didn't last. Garrus and Shepard turned their sniper rifles on him and dropped him in a few shots. The one or two Eclipse mercs left tried to make a run for it. They didn't make it far. The silence was deafening. A bit of an oxymoron I know. But that's how it is. After the roar of several guns, the explosions of grenades and the blasts from biotics; the sudden silence can be startling if you aren't expecting it. In its own way, it can be just as noisy as the fighting itself.

At least at first, then you quickly get used to it. A nice break in between each firefight. Shepard walked over to talk to Garrus and I quickly checked over my gear and grabbed any spare thermal clips that I could find. I shared the extras with Zaheed and Frosty. Zaheed seemed to be in a good mood, kind of like an old dog back at home. He knew where he was and what he's good at. What more could he want?

Frosty went about with her usual air of annoyance and focus. I couldn't tell if she was all business all of the time or just when she's working. I kind of wanted to find out. On the other hand I didn't because Cerberus. Decisions Decisions..

A large explosion from floors beneath us echoed up and the building shook a little bit. There goes that train of thought. "The tunnels below! They must have gotten through." Garrus shouted. "Well that explains what they were doing with all of those explosives." I said calmly. A lot more calm then I felt, but whatever.

"Miranda and Zaheed with me. Moira stay with Garrus." Shepard rattled off before sprinting for the door. Zaheed and Miranda followed behind, dogging her heels before Garrus or I could say anything. "So. I'm Moira T'sovik." I said, properly introducing myself. (What? Manners are important.)

"Garrus Vakarian." He answered. Hell of a nice gravely voice with a slight flanging to it. I looked at him and actually took in the details. His mandibles hung low and the normal Turian flanging was barely there. He fired first dropping a Vorcha with a head shot. I gave an appreciative whistle before using a shockwave to send a couple off of the side of the bridge.

"Nice one!" Garrus shouted.

Between the two of us, we kept that the bridge clear. If they somehow got past Garrus, they had to deal with either my rifle or my biotics. We weren't flawless in working together, as we had literally just met but we covered each other well and communicated together quickly and efficiently. While we fought, Garrus kept Shepard and others updated as they fought through the basement to close the shutters. Shortly after the second shutter closed the Blood Pack stopped shooting at us for a moment. Enough time for Garrus and I to give each other odd looks before an insane amount of bullets hit the windows. They were badly aimed if they were aimed at all, but there were so goddamn many of them that Garrus and I had no choice but to duck or be ventilated.

When the fire slacked enough for us to look up and open fire on the Vorcha and Krogan charging at us. An explosion beneath us caused us to shake and stumble. "I think they're inside." I said, a little unnecessarily. "I think so too." Garrus said. I grabbed the bookshelf with my biotics and tossed it in front of the door. "That should buy us a couple seconds."

Bullets snapped over our heads just as the door started to thump and creak. Garrus quickly confirmed that the third shutter had been closed and that we needed help. A round bounced off of my helmet and I was glad for shields and the damn thing. I a few well placed shots and a flamer vorcha blew up, taking a couple of his buddies that were standing too close to him with him.

A small explosion behind us and the door opened just a bit. I threw as many biotic blasts as I could and Garrus shot anyone that survived. The good news is that we cleared the bridge of any possible survivors. "Talk to me Garrus. You alright?" I asked as the thumping and growling at the door increased. "I'll live. You?" His armor was more scratched and burnt and he sounded more tired than before. If we didn't end this soon I was worried that he would collapse from sheer exhaustion. I was beyond impressed that he had lasted this long by himself. The door exploded in a shower of shrapnel and flames and Garrus and I opened fire on the now open door way. We dropped a Krogan and a couple Vorcha. A burst of flame had us splitting up and scattering us to opposite corners of the room.

I slammed the offending vorcha into the ground and he exploded. That bought us a couple seconds. Before we could start shooting again, explosives and biotics echoed outside. Oh thank the goddess, our help had arrived. I carefully made my way to Garrus and helped him up. His armor was even more scratched and broken, the shields sparking a couple times before forming again. Drops of indigo-blood hit the floor.

"You know, I'm glad that they attack in waves instead of all at once. Could have really fucked us up that way." I said as I helped him onto the couch. "Please don't give them any ideas." Garrus said with a groan. A loud crash brought both of our heads up and we watched as that giant fuck-off Krogan fell to the ground. Shepard calmly stepped over the corpse before pausing to put two bullets into his forehead.

"Garm's dead." Garrus said. Oh. So that's who the Krogan was. Shepard rushed over to check on Garrus and nearly shoved me aside to do so. I didn't say anything. If it had been Leo or one of my friends I would have reacted the same way. I gingerly made my way to lean against one of the couches. Zaheed stood off in a corner, checking over his gear.

Ice-Queen slowly made her way to me. "You fight well. Are you hurt?" she asked. "Damn Princess, did it hurt for you to ask me that?" I cheeked, wondering if I was being serious or not. While I was appreciative of her asking, I couldn't look past her affiliation for being part of a terrorist group. I don't like terrorists. She frowned at me. Her face seemed tailor made for frowning. I wonder if she was even capable of smiling.

"I'm fine Princess. Just bruises." I said. Even if I was hurt worse than that, I wasn't going to ask for help. I didn't need it. I can handle things on my own. It's why I went to Einganna and Tuchanka. To be strong enough to do that. Whatever Princess was going to say next was lost as gunship suddenly flew by the window and a voice screamed out over the intercom.

"Archangel! You think you can fuck with Blue Suns and get away with it?!" That must be...Tarak! The Batarian. I grabbed Princess and threw her onto the floor and dropped down on top of her, shielding her from the large bullets that were tearing about the room. As soon as the gunship stopped firing, I rolled off of Princess and helped her up. We both dove behind the couch as the first of the Blue Sun grunts jumped out of the gunship and opened fire. Princess and I jumped up at the same time and sent one Blue Suns guy screaming out the window. Zaheed seemed extra interested in shooting the Blue Suns and took them down with extreme prejudice. Shepard and Garrus were an unbeatable team that dropped anyone that got in their sights. Garrus dropped them at range or Shepard beat the hell out of them with her fists or shot them with her rifle. Miranda Zaheed and I aimed at the helmetless woman who was barking orders at the few survivors. We unloaded on her and she danced and seemed to come apart as we shot her. Her ventilated body collapsed against the wall as Garrus shot the remaining Blue Suns.

I rolled my shoulders and glanced at Princess. "Sorry about that." I said, apologizing for landing on her. That got a smirk from her. A smirk! I didn't think her mouth could change shape from a frown like that! "It's fine. I appreciate the thought. A bit of advice though." I grunted a question. "You're heavy in that armor. Find another way to shield someone that doesn't involve bruising them."

I laughed and Zaheed grunted out something that might have been a question. I didn't get a chance to answer because that gunship came roaring back and fired missiles and bullets into the room. I formed a barrier and stopped the first missile, but the second and third one sent me flying back into the wall. I bounced off the wall and groaned in pain. Yup. Forget tomorrow, this freaking hurts now. I forced the pain to the back of my mind and grabbed my rifle.

Standing up, I opened up on the gunship. "Goddamn!" Zaheed shouted as he tossed a grenade at the gunship. Four people were shooting at it and I cheered as it started to smoke. My cheering turned to cursing when a bullet clipped my stomach and put me on my ass. I groaned again. I think this time I might have broken something. Zaheed grabbed my shoulder and yanked me up. "Come on old man!" I shouted. "Let's drop the bitch!"

Zaheed laughed. "Goddamn!" We both stood up and fired away, dodging every time the turret turned towards us. "Miranda! Go left! Zaheed go right! Moira with me up the middle!" Shepard shouted. Zaheed split off to the right and Shepard landed right next to me. "We need to destroy this thing quickly. I don't know how long Garrus has." Shepard said.

"He's hurt?" I asked, worried about the guy. What? For the few minutes that I had met him, he seemed like a likable guy. Tarak tried to compensate for us spreading out by filling the area with bullets and the occasional missile. We poured an unbelievable amount of bullets into the gunship. Luckily for us, Shepard had killed the guy working on it, so it didn't have as much armor as it should have. Burning and spinning out of control Tarak screamed out in rage and fear before the gunship exploded, temporarily blinding us.

Just as well because I was running out of ammo. I was down to one and a half clips. I stood up and cautiously looked around, only relaxing when it became obvious that we were safe. For the moment at least. Shepard nearly knocked me on my ass rushing to Garrus. Garrus! I sprinted to his side as the blood pooled beneath him. Half of his face was blown off and burnt. How was he still alive? Shepard yelled at Miranda to call someone named Joker. I slapped medi-gel onto his wounds. Despite how great medi-gel is, it wouldn't save him completely. He needed a doctor. "I'm getting a car." I said and jumped out of the window. I used my biotics to slow my descent until I could roll on the ground and take off in a sprint. I jumped over the broken and riddled bodies. I ignored them. They had tried to kill us. They got what the deserved.

I jumped over the barricade and ran until I found an air car. A Batarian was checking it out when I flattened him with a biotic punch. What? In a bit of a rush here. I started up the car and nearly broke the accelerator as I sped towards the others. Putting it in hover, I opened the door and jumped out. Helping Shepard load an unconscious Garrus into the car, and I shoved Shepard into the car. "Go with him! Don't worry about me, I'll meet you at Normandy." Zaheed and Miranda climbed in, working to keep Garrus alive. Shepard slammed the door and flew off, leaving me behind in the blasted building.

Humming to myself, I jumped out of the window again and slowly walked back. I needed to find another car. Had to be one around here somewhere. I thought over the day. It certainly was an interesting one. Fought all three gangs, fought with Shepard and still had a spot on her crew. Now to get _Serenity_ and head to _Normandy._ A hell of a start to this adventure. If this was the start, what the hell else would be in store?

Part of me couldn't wait to find out. The saner and more intelligent part of me wondered what in the living hell did I just get myself into?

I swear the galaxy better be grateful for us doing this shit.

_No Moira. They won't be. That's it for this chapter. Hope you all enjoyed. As always, leave those reviews and questions and I will respond when I am able. _


	4. Chapter 4

_Normandy _was certainly a larger ship than I was expecting. Which I'm glad for because otherwise _Serenity _probably wouldn't have fit. Shepard had left with some dark skinned human named Jacob and Zaheed to recruit Mordin. Something about a disease targeting aliens had convinced me that I should stay behind. I stayed in the hanger, venturing out to get some food and to check up on Garrus who was recovered enough to joke about his new scars and derail any potential conversation because of calibrations.

Sitting in shorts and a tank top with a mask covering the lower half of my face, I held the paint gun and sprayed the violet colored paint over a Gladiolus stencil. Just underneath the word Serenity in the Asari language, I was adding more designs, starting with the flower. In my second life I had discovered a small talent for art and enjoyed it.

Painting and fashion seemed to be my main two things. Which was surprising because back when I was human I didn't have much of any interest in either of those things. Not that I actually ever bothered to look, what with most of my life being consumed by my work and eventually my family or some combination of the two. Which is kind of depressing now that I think about it.

Anyways, I make it a point to change around the designs on my ship and person every so often. There's no set time when I change things, the exception being the bones from that goddess-damn beast from Einganna. Going to be wearing that fucker for awhile. Loud electronic music played from a speaker that I had set up, filling the hanger with loud and vibrant sounds. The paint gun hissed as the paint sprayed over the design, my head and shoulders moving to the beats.

A slight movement at the top of eyes caught my attention. Looking up, I noticed a much more relaxed Shepard standing on top of_ Serenity._ No longer wearing her armor, she had traded for a black and white pants and shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

I turned the music down to much more reasonable volume. "You like art huh?" She asked. "Love it. Best way of expressing yourself." I answered, my voice sounding slightly robotic because of my mask. Shepard hummed for a second before asking, "Can you cover this up?" She turned her shoulder and showed me the Cerberus symbol on it.

Yuck.

I picked up the paint gun and started going through the paint capsules that I kept in a case. "Can a Krogan eat a lot?" I answered. I glanced at her eyes before selecting a color. Twisting the knob so that they spray came out in a narrow line instead of all over the place, I quickly and easily covered the Cerberus logo with a forest green flower.

"What's the flower?" Shepard asked.

"It's a green Chrysanthemum. My older sister grows and sells flowers in all kinds of colors in Nos Astra. She tells me that this one means hope." Shepard smiled and thanked me. "Looks so much better now." She said.

"It does." I said in agreement.

"Mind if I ask you a few questions?" Shepard asked. I shrugged and went back to painting.

"Knock yourself out."

Shepard frowned. "Why would I do that?"

Oh damn it all. I did that sometimes. Using way outdated slang and phrases from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. "It's..never mind. What did you want to ask?" I said, quickly skipping over my mess up.

"Tell me about yourself." Shepard said. "What, you mean my skills? Because there's plenty of them." Shepard chuckled as she watched me paint. "No I already know how well you fight, and Garrus had nothing but good things to say about you."

I preened a little at that. "I'll start at the beginning then." I said, continuing to paint.

"That's a pretty good place to start." Shepard cheeked. I rolled my eyes at her before giving her the short version of my life. "Born on Thessia, Krogan battlemaster and Huntress for parents, third child of nine and I decided to follow in their footsteps. Was on the Citadel when Sovereign attacked. Went and trained for a bit then came to find you to stop the Reapers. Anything else?" I asked.

Shepard seemed to think. "What about James?" she asked after a moment. I groaned and rolled my eyes. "What's to say? I told you the truth on Omega." Shepard nodded and moved to get a better look at my work. "You did. But you didn't tell me everything."

"Yes, for a reason. I can take care of myself." I said, feeling a twinge of annoyance. "I believe it. I also believe that there isn't any shame in asking for help."

I rolled my eyes. "There isn't. But this is my personal life and I can take care of it on my own. I handle my own problems." I said with a deal of finality. Shepard looked at me for a second before nodding. "I like your art. I think you should paint other parts of _Normandy_. Give her some color."

"Oh I can absolutely do that."

Shepard left and deftly jumped down from _Serenity_. Just before she could leave the hanger, I spoke up and said "James and I were together for a couple years in the Terminus systems. I meant what I had said. I helped him with whatever and what I learned I passed onto the Matriarchs." I paused my painting before turning to look at Shepard, who stared at me with rapt attention.

"I was a mercenary and a smuggler during those years. Aside from the occasional mission from Thessia, I did whatever with James and his crew. I had fun and don't regret it." I turned back to my painting and finished it with the last couple strokes before leaning back to study it fully. Deciding that it was fine for now, I started putting my supplies away.

"That was until I found the cargo that we were going to smuggle for this job. A bunch of kids. Different species, all taken from their parents. All scared out of their goddess-damned minds. I didn't ask where we were supposed to take them. When James refused to even consider letting them go, I killed him." I snorted. "I thought I killed him. And now he's back."

I jumped down and landed in front of Shepard. "I liked him a lot. Dodging pirates and everyone else to smuggle whatever all over the Terminus systems. But there are some things that I don't forgive anyone for doing."

Shepard gave another of her genuine blinding smiles. "I knew I had a good reason for liking you. Welcome aboard _Normandy_." I smiled behind my mask even though Shepard couldn't see it. "So where should I paint first?" I asked.

"Why are you asking me? You're the artist."

"Yes, but this is your ship."

Shepard thought for a second and then smiled. This time with a great deal of mischievousness. "I know the first place that you should paint." She grabbed my hand and nearly yanked me off of my feet as she pulled me towards the elevator. Shepard didn't answer any of my questions until we reached the galley and Shepard directed me a door on the left side, behind Gardner.

"EDI, let us know if anyone tries to open this door." Shepard said.

"Understood Commander Shepard." A female voice responded.

"Who was that?" I asked as I started to picture what I could paint on the door. "Oh her? That's EDI. She's an AI and helps run _Normandy_."

"An AI?" I asked and at Shepard's cheerful confirmation I shrugged and said, "As long as she doesn't go all Skynet on us I'm not going to say anything. Hi Edi. I'm Moira."

"Hello Moira." EDI responded and then fell silent.

"Skynet?" Shepard asked as she helped me get set up. "Skynet is a reference to Terminator, a series of movies made in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries about a hostile AI sending machines called Terminators into the past to kill the future heroes of the human lead resistance. Skynet is the name of the hostile AI that leads the machines and is responsible for the nuclear Armageddon that kills most of humanity." EDI explained.

"Ah." Shepard said, sounding kind of like a Vorcha, though I wasn't going to say that out loud. At her questioning look, I shrugged and said, "I like a lot of things. Now, let's get started on this painting. What do you want?"

"Something funny and that makes fun of Cerberus."

"Done." I already had a good idea of what to make. I started painting, and Shepard quickly jumped in trying to help. She wasn't much help because she didn't have any experience at all, but she made the time go by quickly and the whole thing was filled with laughs. A little more than an hour later, and our masterpiece was finished.

An upside-down Cerberus logo on a pink circular background with a dwarf like caricature of Miranda dual wielding pistols on top of the now upside-down logo. The best part in my opinion of the picture was the bubblegum pink hairdo that I gave Miranda's er ...portrait. Opened mouth with a stupid grin and the words "I sniff butts" in all capitals in a speech bubble completed the ensemble.

I'd like to note that I never wrote the I sniff butts thing. That was all Shepard. My sense of humor is much more mature than that as befitting a member of the Asari race. Which is why my personal touch was the pink hair and the green cloud directly beneath Miranda's backside. Which due to it being a caricature I was not able to properly give justice too. Perhaps another time.

"This was fun. Perhaps we can do Garrus next if we can get him away from his precious calibrations." I said, admiring the art work. Part of me wondered where this particular door led to, but I didn't really care enough to ask at that moment.

"Do Garrus how?" Shepard asked and I laughed at her suggestive tone. "I'm up for whatever if you are." Shepard gave me a roving eye and then did a wolf whistle! "I just might be up for whatever." I think my mouth was somewhere through the decks of the ship. "I think I might be dreaming. No. I have to be dreaming. Or EDI's pumping something through the air." I cheeked and unclipping the mask and dropping it on my art supplies.

"There aren't any hallucinogenic or foreign bodies on board the _Normandy_." EDI cooly informed us. "Oh well in that case." I said as I dropped an arm on Shepard's shoulders and pulled her to face me. Shepard grinned and let me pull her towards myself. Before anything else could possibly happen, the doors opened to reveal a surprised and incredibly confused Miranda.

Looking behind her I could see a desk covered in datapads and a bed.

Oh.

So that's what the door lead too. Miranda's room. "Shepard? Moira?" What are you two doing?" Miranda asked. I dropped my arm from Shepard and gave an innocent smile. "We were just discussing art." I said. What? Not entirely a lie. Miranda looked decidedly unamused which really isn't that much of a change from what I've seen of her. "And this includes having your arms around each other?"

"It does when you're discussing suggestive art." Shepard said smoothly. Miranda rolled her eyes as she stepped forward and the door slid shut behind her. Shepard and I stared straight at Miranda, being as careful as we could to keep the smiles off of our faces and not look at the painting behind her. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a Salarian walking from the kitchen towards the starboard side of the ship.

"Is that Mordin? I should go and introduce myself!" I announced and walked away quickly, dodging Shepard's attempt and grabbing me and making me stay. "Moira you!" I didn't know what most likely unflattering things Shepard was going to say because Miranda said something about having too much work to do and that she was going back to her room. I had just crossed the threshold to Mordin's lab when a voice shrieked _"Shepard what the hell is this?!"_

The door slammed shut and I stood for a second to offer a silent prayer to Shepard and hoped that she would survive Miranda's wrath. Turning to Mordin, a Salarian wearing a lab coat over his commando armor bustling about his lab. I noticed the scars on his face and one of his cranial horns was missing. This guy has seen and done a few things. I was instantly curious about him. Introducing myself, I listened as Mordin rattled off various facts and answers at his rapid pace (without even stopping for a breath!)

We eventually started talking about the Collectors and the mission. Mordin discussed the counter measures that he was creating and I tried to follow along as best as I could, seeing that science had never been my strong suit. Still, Mordin seemed to appreciate that I at least attempted to understand him and he didn't seem to mind having to explain himself.

As Mordin talked in his rapid fire manner, my thoughts turned to Shepard and painting with her. Specifically what might have happened after we had finished. I wasn't sure where anything would go with her and wasn't entirely bothered by it. If something happened, then that would be awesome because it's Shepard! If not, well flirting is still lots of fun and either way I have a new friend to kick ass and create art with.

What else could someone want?

_A bit of a break before going onto the missions. The next chapter is going to be pretty long so please give me time to write it. I decided that this could be a stand alone chapter to make my life a little easier. _

_I hope you all enjoyed. _

_-C.H._


	5. Chapter 5

"Keep still!" I snapped and Jack stilled. "Your entire body is covered in tattoos save for this one part and suddenly you can't keep still for it?" I asked. Jack rolled her eyes. "Fuck off."

"Great counter argument. Someone was the captain of their debate team."

"Fuck. Off."

Rolling my eyes, I bent down with the needle over Jack's shin and began to trace the outline of the drawing. Several days have gone by since I joined the crew and new people joined us. There was Kasumi, the cute little thief; Jack the incredibly tattooed psychotic criminal biotic and a vat grown young Krogan named Grunt. Jack and I hit it off pretty quickly.

By hitting it off I mean that I caught her trying to break into _Serenity_ and I launched her to the other side of the hanger bay. She fought back and we wrecked the place. Shepard put a stop to it and had us both cleaning up the bay. That spawned another couple fights until Shepard again came down and that spiraled out into a three way brawl.

Best ninety minutes of my life so far.

Anyways, after we cleaned up the hanger bay, Jack and I got to talking and she was appreciative of my art and I liked her tattoos. More conversations followed as Shepard left with others to run some kind of mission with Zaheed (That both of them refuse to talk about) and some kind of adventure with Kasumi that involved some guy named Hock.

I had joined Shepard on the cluster that had been a recruitment mission for Okeer. I had heard of him, as my father had cursed his name for reasons that he refused to specify. We didn't get Okeer. Instead we came away with Grunt, supposedly the pinnacle of Krogan and Okeer's greatest work. Interesting guy for being a couple weeks old.

Anyways, to get back on track Jack had liked my art enough for me to help her come up with some designs for her and tattoo them on. Which has led me to here, underneath engineering in a little corner putting a tattoo on a pantsless Jack.

"You know that I only took my pants off for the tattoo right? Still don't want to fuck you." Jack said as I rolled my eyes for the upteenth time and didn't dignify it with a response. "I'm starting to color it in now." I said and switched needles. A simple design of interlocking daggers up the length of her shin, I alternated between coloring it in with dark ink and unique designs in each dagger.

Footsteps sounded behind me and I didn't look up from my work. "What's up Shepard?" Jack asked. "You almost finished Moira?" Shepard asked. "A couple more hours to go. Why?" I answered.

"We're on the way to Horizon. Illusive Man says that it might have just been hit by the Collectors." (Jack had twitched at the mention of TIM but stilled when I gave her a rather pointed look) "You'll be with myself and Grunt and Miranda. Garrus will be leading Jacob and Zaheed and Kasumi in another team. Jack and Mordin are staying behind to guard the ship."

"You're leaving me on your ship? You trust me with it?" Jack asked, slightly incredulous and I honestly agreed with her. I wouldn't trust her with anything, let alone a fancy stealth ship.

"Can you give me a reason that I shouldn't trust you?" Shepard asked, sounding genuinely confused. "Several probably." I quipped and then smacked Jack's other leg when she moved in either genuine or feigned outrage. "If you move one more goddamn time I'm leaving this half done." I snapped.

Jack stilled and I heard Shepard stifle a laugh behind me. "Be ready, expect things to be hot the moment we hit the ground."

"Roger that." I said and once more focused on the tattoo. Jack muttered something under her breath as I heard more footsteps coming down the stairs. "Oh there you are!" and I stopped to quickly give Kelly a smile. The ever perky and curvaceous red-head had started talking to me not long after I joined the crew and it didn't take long for her to end up in my bed.

We weren't dating, but made no secret that we were close. She gently kissed my crests and hummed appreciatively of either Jack's tattoo or the fact that her pants were off. Or both. "Everything alright?" I asked as I filled another part in. Shepard had left at some point after she had given a cheerful greeting to Kelly.

"Yes I'm fine, I was just checking up on you."

"I'm good. Just going to finish this up and then get ready."

"Mind if I stay?"

"I don't. Jack?"

"Whatever."

Kelly sat down next to me and we talked and even Jack joined in on the conversation! Granted it was usually a curse or something, but hey points for conversering like an actual person. Two hours later and Kelly was fast asleep with her head on my lap as I added the final touches.

"And we're done. What do you think?" I asked and Jack sat up and looked at the tattoo. "I like it. Ever thought about making a career out of this?"

"I did actually. I worked out of _Serenity_ after I left Asari space for a bit in between mercenary work. I also did the tattoos for the crew I was apart of."

"Holy fuck you were a pirate?" Jack asked with what I like to think was grudging respect on her part. I shrugged and ran my fingers through Kelly's hair. "I did for a bit. We smuggled, hijacked a couple ships, did whatever we were paid to do."

"Should've stayed a pirate. Been a good career for you."

"Careful there, I think that might have been a compliment." I put away my equipment and gently woke Kelly up. "It was fun, but I was looking for a quick adventure that was different from my usual life. Probably going back to Thessia after this."

Jack scoffed. Kelly and I stood up and she bade Jack a sleepy goodbye and I shrugged. "You can scoff, but I prefer to be a part of something and doing something with my life. Something worthwhile."

Jack scoffed again and I chuckled. "Maybe one day you'll believe me. You're a lot better than you give yourself credit for. I have to go get ready. See you in a bit." Jack scoffed again and remained on the cot. I followed Kelly to the elevator and she fell into my arms. "I was hoping to have a quick-one before the mission." Kelly said, her head on my shoulder.

"Sorry. Jack's tattoo took longer than I thought. We can have a night when I get back." A thought suddenly occurred to me. "Shouldn't you be at work on the bridge?" I asked. "Shepard gave me a few hours off to say good-bye to you and a break before Horizon."

"I'll have to make it up to you then."

Kelly smiled as the elevator opened. "Yes you will, but I did need that nap."

I led the way onto Serenity and tossed aside my clothes and slipped into my armor. Joker's voice came through the intercom and he said "Teams to the shuttles. Coming up on Horizon in ten minutes."

Huh. No sarcasm or crappy jokes? Talk about a surprise. "I better get to the bridge." Kelly said and she gave me a kiss and I nipped her lip. "When you're back." She said, her voice husky with promise.

Kelly skipped off and I stared long enough to admire the movement of her hips and ass before walking over to the shuttle. "I thought that we'd have to pry you two a part." Shepard said as I climbed into the shuttle. Her N7 armor gleamed in the shuttle-bay light and I shrugged. "Would have if Jack's tattoo hadn't taken longer than I thought."

Shepard looked around and nodded. "Okay. We're all here. Mission's simple. Stop the Collectors and rescue the colonists. Team two, can you hear me?"

"We can." Garrus said over the radio.

The shuttle doors closed and both shuttles lifted off. Shepard pulled up a holo-map of the colony and she pointed at a red dot. "Team one will land here. Team two will land over here. Team one will push directly into the center of the colony. Team two will move around the perimeter and keep it secure. Garrus? You're in charge."

"Understood Shepard." Garrus said. "Actually, I'd like to go ahead and land ahead of you."

Shepard was quiet for a couple seconds as she thought. "Granted. You see anything, say something."

"Understood. Team two out."

I leaned back and closed my eyes. I always grabbed as much sleep as I could before a mission. You never know how it might go. I also found that it helped to calm my nerves. No matter how old I'll get or however many missions that I do, I won't ever escape the nerves that come from right before a mission.

I don't know if it's from being nervous about what could go wrong, or the thrill of the fact that I'm about to get into a fight. I grinned to myself and my fangs peeked through. "Something funny?" Miranda asked and I opened my eyes to look at her. "Nope. Actually yes. One is judged by their enemies. Shepard is hunted by the Reapers. Humanity has fought the Geth and now the Collectors!" I laughed. "The new kids in space have the greatest enemies. It's unexpected and interesting."

Grunt laughed. "She's right. This'll be fun."

Miranda scoffed. "Krogan." She said as if it was a kind of judgment. "Oh don't be like that. Didn't Augustine Kroso say that very thing? That people demonstrate their strengths and abilities by overcoming powerful enemies?"

"Who?" Grunt asked.

"A human philosopher. Known for his nihilistic and war-monger work. Died of old age shortly before the First Contact War." Miranda answered. She turned back to me and said "Augustine was also a warmonger that said humanity should conquer the stars figuratively and literally."

"What? And you don't agree with him?" I challenged.

"Not at all. I want humanity to advance and be better. It's a dangerous universe out there and humanity has to be better for it. Didn't Matriarch Shayltha say that it's the duty of the people to stand up and lead their civilization to the future?"

"She also was one of the people who laughed my purple ass off Thessia when I pointed out that the Asari need a standing army and have to change. For someone who's all about leading the way to the future she's pretty allergic to any idea of change."

"Are you two going to keep quoting various people as you argue?" Shepard asked.

"Yes." We both answered at the same time. The shuttle bucked and the pilot announced that we were entering the atmosphere. We both turned back to each other "People have a duty to lead their society to the future but I don't think joining a terrorist organization is the way to do it." I said cooly.

"And being a mercenary is the way for you?"

"Hey I served loyally for decades before I decided to go travel. And I sent whatever information I could when I could."

"You just said that your purple ass was laughed off Thessia." Shepard put in.

I glared at her and muttered "So I had multiple reasons for leaving. Fuck off."

"You think that the Asari should have an army?" Grunt asked. "My people live for about a thousand years. Every generation there's at least one war. The Turians can't do the heavy lifting for us all of the time. Commandos can't win a war against Reapers or whatever else is out there." I answered.

"Five minutes to LZ." The pilot announced. We all stood up and Shepard's and my helmets opened up and covered our faces. "Weapons check. Everyone ready?" Shepard asked as she stepped up to the front.

One by one we called out that we were ready. "Miranda." I said and she looked at me. "Shayltha had a couple good points. But I don't think Cerberus is the way to do it. You quoted an Asari matriarch. You're a lot better than that organization."

"I don't think that I believe you. But thank you." Miranda's voice was warm, a far cry from her normal frigid tones. "One day, I think you will." I replied and Miranda's smile grew an inch or so larger.

"Landing now!" The pilot announced and the shuttle bay doors slid open. With Shepard leading the way, we stepped out and fanned out. Guns at the ready for whatever the Collectors had.

_Decided to split this chapter up so that I could upload it a bit sooner. The Horizon mission will be pretty long so please be patient. Hope you all enjoyed. _

_-C.H._


	6. Chapter 6

The shuttle lifted off behind us as we fanned out and moved through the colony. We had landed on the outskirts and didn't see anyone. I don't think I can really state how creepy it was. Even a small colony like this should have some signs of life, but there was nothing. It was quiet. Way too quiet. Nothing moved, animals did not make any noise, nothing was happening. Doors were open on the ugly little human homes and a quick glance inside showed that there was still steaming hot coffee in one mug.

If I didn't know any better, I would say that every single person here just up and left for no reason. No warning, no talking about it, they just got up and walked away.

"Mordin, are you sure that the armor upgrades will protect us from the seeker swarms?" Shepard asked.

"Certainty impossible. But in limited numbers, should confuse detection, make us invisible to swarms. In theory." Mordin answered in his usual rapid fire way.

"In theory?" I asked, feeling just a bit concerned.

"Experimental technology. Only test is contact with seeker swarms. Look forward to seeing if you survive!"

With that, Mordin signed out, leaving us all just a bit concerned. "Looks like we're about to get our test." Miranda said and pointed at the seeker swarm that was moving towards us. We raised our weapons but held our fire. I don't know about the others but I held my breath and waited. The alien four legged bugs with their insect wings buzzing so fast that we couldn't see the wings flew towards us….and flew on.

"I guess it worked." Shepard said, sounding a little relieved. We turned a corner and found them. The Collectors. No one knew what they were, but they stood a bit taller than me with black chitinous armor and four glowing eyes. They honestly looked like bug-aliens with rifles. Rifles that they knew what to do with as they didn't hesitate to open fire on us. We dove for cover as the first rounds snapped over our heads and where we had been standing.

The heavy firing continued for a couple seconds before it paused and I snapped out of cover to fire a short burst at a Collector. It staggered a bit before it fell back into cover. Grunt laughed as he grabbed a Collector that had gotten too close to him and he headbutt it so hard that it flew off of its feet. I put three bullets into its chest as it fell and it died.

Moving from cover to cover, Shepard and Grunt led the way with myself in the middle and Miranda in the rear. Miranda and I used our biotics to knock the Collectors around and get them out of cover for Shepard and or Grunt to kill them.

That isn't to say that Miranda and I weren't shooting them, but it wasn't really our priority. We started to make good progress, until we turned another corner and moved deeper into the colony and more and more Collectors literally flew in. I don't know why they had giant bug wings, but they made good use of it.

Three Collectors landed and a shockwave sent them back into the air before they could get into cover. When we weren't fighting, we moved through the cube-house things looking for people. They were all the same, as if the people just up and left. It was disheartening to not be able to find anyone, not even children hiding under the bed.

We had just cleared out another building when Shepard stopped to stare at a human-husk that she had just shot and killed. Shepard toed the corpse-thing and rolled it onto its back. I barely resisted the urge to shoot the thing again. Damn thing was creepy even as a corpse. The blue lights that passed for the eyes had dimmed to a dull-blue glow and its mouth hung open, as if in a silent scream.

It's skin was a dark grey, with blue tubes running along parts of its shoulders and rib cage. "This husk." Shepard said. "What about it?" Miranda asked, suddenly by Shepard's side and staring at the thing. "It's different from the ones on Eden Prime. More advanced."

Miranda actually knelt down next to the thing and I started to raise my hand to do….something. Not sure what. I don't know why I wanted to help the Ice-Queen who remained loyal to a terrorist organization but whatever.

I'll unpack all of that later.

"I don't think it was made by the Geth." Miranda said.

"I didn't see any of those spike-things here either." I added. "The Collectors brought them with them." Shepard said as Miranda stood up. "I think we can confirm that the Collectors are working with the Reapers." Shepard said as she took point again. "Lets go. We can't help whoever that was but we can save as many people as we can."

We rounded a corner and spotted several Collectors moving amongst a large number of cocoons and people just standing there. Frozen. "Don't let them take them." Shepard ordered and then opened fire. A few Collectors were dropped instantly as we moved forward as a team, moving from cover to cover. A few shots bounced off of our shields and armor, but that was all that they could do. We had torn through them like a pack of Varren through some Earth- puppies. (Easily one of the most disturbing things that I've seen.)

I stopped and peered into one of the cocoons and shouted "There's a person in here! Looks like the colonists."

Grunt poked one of the frozen colonists in the forehead and grunted as the human fell over. "That's weird."

"Tell me about it." I said as we jogged to catch up to Shepard and Miranda. "More Collectors!" Miranda shouted. We fell into cover and I raised my rifle and one Collector seemed to convulse and fall over and then rocketed to the air to hover. Orange flames and light erupted from its body as an impossibly deep voice thundered "ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL."

"This hurts you." It said and I ducked just as a shot snapped off of my helmet and knocked me back. I popped up just in time to see this dark-orange orb hit me in the chest. I staggered back and then started to swear violently as flames washed over me.

I smacked at the flames and sweat broke out all over me as my armor shrieked several alarms about the heat and the fact that my shields were gone. That must have been the signal because the surviving Collectors turned their guns on me and the rounds snapped off of my armor knocking me back. Thank the Goddess for armor, even if I was going to be bruised purple tomorrow.

Well, more purple than I already am.

I felt my feet leave the ground as I felt a thick arm wrap around my midsection. I was flung behind a bullet ridden wall and landed in something of a dignified heap. Grunt landed next to me in a loud crash. "Thanks." I said as he righted himself. "Don't mention it." We both leaned out and opened fire, with Grunt's massive form taking most of the shots.

Something that I was fine with, as his thick-assed hide and armor can tank those shots so much better than I could. His help was greatly appreciated, but I could have gotten myself out of that situation. Eventually. "Everyone target glowie!" Shepard shouted. Four people turned and opened fire on it, and the sheer weight of fire seemed to stagger the damn thing.

"You merely prolong the inevitable."

Another biotic strike hit Shepard and had her rolling to put out the flames. Fast as lighting, she was back up and shooting the thing. After several agonizing minutes the glowing Collector collapsed into dust and died. As it died however, it said with its terrifying deep voice "This form is irrelevant."

The other Collectors died quickly and we cautiously moved forward. Shepard's and I's armor still smoked in places. "Team 2, can you hear me?" Shepard said. The sounds of gunfire echoed through the radio. "We hear you Shepard." Garrus responded, sounding completely unbothered about the gunfire.

"A new Collector has shown up, has some sort of biotic skills. If you see it, destroy it quickly. Damn thing glows so it's easy to spot."

"Understood."

Shepard cut the link and took the lead. We fell into a diamond formation, with Grunt and I at the flanks and Miranda in the rear. Moving through the colony, we eliminated another patrol before the glowing Collector made its return. We tried to shoot it out of the sky as it hovered there, but the other Collectors fired at us and prevented us from getting a good bead on it.

"I will direct this personally." it thundered.

Grunt headbutted a Collector and its skull broke audibly. "Leave the dead where they fall." it said and then set me on fire again. I was really starting to hate this guy. Like really hate him. Miranda hit the thing with a biotic blast and Grunt charged it, only to be sent flying backwards and on fire. I barely had time to dodge before several hundred pounds of flaming armored Krogan landed on me.

"Brilliant move kid." I quipped as I shot a Collector.

"Shut up." Grunt said as he heaved himself up and threw a grenade at the glowing Collector. A few bullets from everyone else killed it. "Everyone good?" Shepard asked. It was only when we all gave various okays that Shepard again started to move. We entered an empty garage and each called out that it was clear. That was until a human stepped out from behind some boxes. "Oh my god!" he shouted.

I'd like to point out that for the future, if anyone finds themselves in a rescue situation or any kind of active combat-zone, perhaps don't just start shouting and stepping out of hiding. It's a great way for armed personnel to shoot you by accident. Like I almost did with this guy. I did feel slightly better by the fact that Miranda and Grunt had also almost shot the idiot.

Shepard holstered her rifle and helped the guy to sit down as she checked him over. Aside from being in shock, he was fine. I gestured and directed Grunt and Miranda to different corners of the garage. We peered out as Shepard talked to the guy.

"I don't know where they came from. We lost comms and I came down here to fix them and then I heard screaming. I looked outside to see these swarms of insects and everyone running and they froze." He trailed off in a stammer. "It all started after the Alliance sent that marine here and set up those defense towers! Got their attention and brought those bastards. If she had just left those towers alone we wouldn't have been attacked." He stammered.

Shepard snorted. "They were going to attack you anyways and there was nothing that you could have done to avoid it. What did you say about the towers?"

"Defense towers. The Alliance sent out that woman to upgrade them and make sure that they were ready for someone if they attacked us. She fucked that up."

"EDI?" Shepard asked.

"The colony had GARDIAN defense towers are capable of destroying the Collector ship." Edi informed us.

The guy told Shepard that we would have to get to the spaceport in order to get the defense towers operational. Shepard thanked him and directed him to stay in hiding as well fell in on her and got ready to move out. "Team two this is team one. Start making your way to the spaceport. We're going to get the GARDIAN defense towers up and destroy that ship." Shepard ordered.

"Acknowledged. On our way." Garrus said.

We moved out and quickly made our way to the starport, which unsurprisingly wasn't all that large. "Not seeing a lot of cover." Miranda said with surprising calmness for someone running around in a catsuit.

"Hah! That's not a problem!" Grunt said.

I rolled my eyes, though it wasn't visible because of my helmet. "Not everyone's a walking tank like you or Shepard."

"I'm not a tank!" Shepard protested.

"Sure you're not, Shep."

Shepard muttered something that didn't sound all that complimentary and Grunt and I laughed at her. Laughter stopped when we heard zombie-like moaning. "Company." Miranda said before husks swarmed us. The lack of adequate cover meant that we couldn't just duck behind something and shoot them as they lurch-ran towards us. It didn't help that they were coming at us from all directions. Instead we formed a loose pentagram facing outwards and opened fire. Husks died in droves, but one or two managed to get in close.

Grunt being Grunt, shrugged off any blows. The rest of us weren't as lucky. Getting hit by a husk was like being hit by a battering ram. Strong enough to even deplete our shields after a couple hits! I staggered from a hit to the head and responded by clubbing it with the butt of my rifle. It fell to the ground and I put three slugs into its head. I swore violently when another husk got a lucky blow in on my hip. A blast sent it flying away where it didn't get back up again.

Husks were starting to move up the ranks on my hate list.

It took several minutes of fighting through wave after wave of husks but we finally reached our destination. In the center of a square stood a tower with a computer on the front of it. "Team two, what's your status?" Shepard asked as she directed us to what cover there was. Different size boxes and the like along with piles of equipment.

I crouched and scanned the area.

Gunfire rang through the radio. "Heavy resistance. Going to be a few minutes." Garrus answered in between breaths.

"Take your time, I don't think we're going anywhere." Shepard said cheerfully. "EDI, can you get the towers ready?"

"I can Shepard. However, it will take time to realign the towers and charge the weaponry. I recommend that you take defensive positions as I will not be able to disguise the charge." EDI answered. Miranda and Shepard groaned at hearing that. I think EDI took it as an acknowledgment because she announced that she was beginning to work. "Get ready everyone. We're going to have company!" Shepard called out.

My heart hammered and I briefly closed my eyes. There were times that I enjoyed myself in a fight. The chance to prove myself to be better, to meet a match and prove myself the superior fighter. This was true even when I was human. That fight against Shepard and Jack aboard _Normandy_ comes to mind.

Despite everything that was going on, I found myself enjoying this moment. Here, with friends making a stand against an all powerful enemy. "Ready Grunt?" I called out. Grunt laughed. "I was born ready. Are you?" He challenged.

"Always!"

Miranda's sigh of annoyance was loud and dramatic enough to cut through our conversation. I was willing to bet that she practiced it in the mirror. "If you two are finished with your chest pounding, the Collectors are coming."

I glanced over the box and spotted several Collectors sprinting towards us. I had time for one last challenging dig. "Bet I can kill more than you Grunt!" I called out.

"Hah! You're on!"

"Open fire!" Shepard yelled.

As one, we popped up and opened fire. We staggered our shots so as to avoid reloading at the same time. Collectors went down as if scythed. "Team one this is team two!" Garrus said. Through the radio we heard the firing.

"We hear you." Shepard answered. "We're not going to make it to you anytime soon. There's so many of them." Garrus said, his words being punctuated by gunfire.

"Understood. Fall back then. Don't get yourselves killed trying to reach us." Shepard responded.

"What about you?" Garrus asked with a slight twinge of concern in his voice. "We'll be fine. EDI will have the turrets up soon." Shepard said. "That's six!" I yelled as a Collector crumpled from my accurate rifle fire.

"See? We'll be fine, Garrus. Fall back. That's an order."

"Understood. Team two out."

I had just sent a husk flying when this...thing stepped out from around the corner. The lower half of the thing started off as a generic husk, but the upper half was completely different. Massive growths on its back created this hunched over figure, like a fucked up hunchback. The biggest concern was easily the oversized rifle where its right arm should be. It made this weird sound, a snarling moan and raised its rifle-arm.

There was a deep _whump _followed by several deeper _whumps_ and the next thing that I knew, the boxes next to where Grunt was crouched behind was launched into the air and Grunt staggered, long enough for several husks to attack him. He roared and swung the shotgun and his fists around. Anything that met either of the two crumpled instantly if they weren't knocked off of their feet.

Another one of those hunch-backed things aimed its rifle arm at Miranda. She swore and then swore louder when Shepard kicked her hip and sent her rolling out of the way. Not a moment too soon because a series of _whumps_ and their cover ceased to exist. Reaching out with my mind, I staggered one of the things, drawing its attention.

"That's right ugly! Pay attention to me!" I yelled. Both of those things turned towards me and raised their rifle-arms. "Fuck. What was step two?" I asked myself before I threw a couple biotic blasts and they staggered. I jumped and rolled to avoid the shockwave blasts and a blue uppercut floored a husk and sent it flying away.

That's when several hundred pounds of roaring Krogan slammed into one of those things and layed it the fuck out. Laughing, Grunt unloaded the shotgun into its face. "Moira! Go low!" Shepard yelled. I dropped and lashed out with my biotics. The thing staggered, just in time for a grenade to slam into its face. It was blasted to its side and I fired several shots into its face.

"EDI? Status?" Shepard asked as I crouched behind a wall and reloaded. I huffed a sigh and felt the exhaustion starting to settle in. "Lasers are charging. It will be a few more minutes."

"Of course." Shepard said, and I think that was the first time that I have ever heard someone do a verbal eye roll. "Incoming!" Miranda called. I picked myself up with a light grunt, only to have a flaming biotic-ball thing to hit me in the chest. I swore violently as pain exploded all across my chest. I beat the flames as they spread across me and rolled in the dirt. Snarling, I rose to my feet and shot the glowing Collector. It turned its head towards me and rumbled "Asari; reliance upon alien species for reproduction shows a genetic weakness."

Oh fuck you buddy. Shows what you know about my people. I opened fire and snarled a curse as glowie simply stepped behind a regular Collector and let it take the shots. "Leave the dead where they lie. Focus on Shepard."

"Moira! With me A wave!" Miranda yelled. The two of us gathered our energy, and glowing blue we launched a massive wave at the Collectors. Hit by the wave, the Collectors were either knocked completely off of their feet or were staggered. Grunt and Shepard concentrated their fire on the downed Collectors while Miranda and I shot the others. All the while we dodged attacks and ignored the taunts from Glowie guy. Once the other Collectors were dead, we concentrated our fire on Glowie. As the sheer amount of bullets hit it, it staggered back and glared at us. After all this time, I never forgot the look that thing gave us as it died. It wasn't...malevolence. Like we weren't worthy of being hated. Like flies suddenly having the temerity to bother this great being. Flies, that should have kept quiet and not bothered it.

"I am limitless. You are bacteria. Your victory here merely delays the inevitable. I am releasing control." It thundered. Glowie collapsed into dust and silence descended on the port. "Shepard! Shepard!" Garrus shouted into the radio. (Nearly blowing out my ears)

"What is it?" Shepard asked.

"Something big just flew over us! It's on its way to you!"

Goddess couldn't things be quiet for five minutes? I'm great but a little break would be nice. I rested against the wall and looked up, scanning the sky for...whatever it was. "Twelve o'clock high!" Shepard yelled. We all looked straight up and saw this...thing flying towards us. It looked like a mockery of a cyborg beetle. It had four dagger-like legs, and glowing blue eyes. Four of them. Who needs so many eyes?!

The real fucked up part of it was the part where any other creature would have a mouth, it instead had several dozens of husks inside of it. Only the upper half of the bodies were visible. Blue lightning crackled around its...head. "Damn that thing is fugly." I said in horror. "Doesn't make it any less dangerous. Open fire!" Shepard yelled and we opened up on it. The bug thing tanked the bullets and charged straight down to us. It slammed to a stop and then these beams erupted from its eyes. Shepard dodged and rolled as the beams burnt the ground and followed her.

Grunt nailed it in its...face thing twice and it turned its attention to Grunt. Grunt roared a challenge and charged….and went flying backwards on fire. Once again I had to jump out of the way to avoid having several hundred pounds of flaming Krogan land on me. I swear that this better not be a habit.

I checked my thermal clips and swore. "Running low!" I shouted. I reloaded and fired. The bug-thing convulsed and then slammed into the ground. The ground shook and we fought to stay on our feet. It glowed for a second and then blue-white waves erupted from it and along the ground.

The waves slammed into our cover and annihilated the boxes and cargo, the walls shook and were cracked. "Grunt with me as soon as that thing stops with the waves! Moira get to Miranda and help her!"

"Acknowledged!" I shouted. Once the last wave ended, I keyed up Miranda's location on my HUD and sprinted towards her. I had to dodge a couple laser blasts before it refocused its attention on Shepard and Grunt. I slid to a stop in front of a comatose Miranda. Blood mattered her hair and her left arm was at an odd angle.

Moving slowly and gently, I lifted her up and leaned her against the wall and checked her over. "Shep, Miranda's going to need to see Chakwas. Broken arm and collarbone and a head injury. Stabilizing her now."

Breaking a couple pieces of a container, I made a makeshift splint and bound her arm. "Best I can do right now. Sorry." I slung her groaning form over my shoulder and sprinted away from the fight. Putting her down as gently as I could, I turned to rejoin the fight.

And by rejoin I mean get hit by those beams. Blasted off of my feet, my suit's alarms shrieked as the shields failed and it heated up to intolerable levels. I bounced along the ground until I was out of the beam's path. My eyes welled with tears and I tried to get to my feet. I was on my knees when it slammed into the ground. Knocked down again, I rolled over just in time to watch one blade leg descending. I grabbed it and my biotics flooded out of me. Pain exploded behind my eyes as I strained to stop myself from being impaled.

I pushed and snarled, my arms strained as the leg was gradually pushed back. I screamed in agony as the other limb impaled my thigh. It went straight through the armor as if it wasn't there and I lost grip on the other limb. I screamed again as it went through my shoulder. The monster shrieked as several explosives hit it in its eyes.

It took to the sky and took it with me. I screamed as it shook its legs and tossed me aside. I landed heavily on my back and felt something crack. I gasped and watched as blood fountained from my shoulder and leg. My eyes started to blur and I reached for my belt. I had to stop the bleeding. I felt a hand on my shoulder and start to push me up. I bit my lip to stop myself from screaming again.

Panting, I turned to look at the still bloodied Miranda. "Keep still. I'll stop the bleeding." With one arm, she grabbed med back and got to work. The bug thing was trying to fight Shepard and Grunt at the same time and both were tossing as many explosives as they could at it. When it slammed into the ground again, I grabbed Miranda around the waist and we shuffled and climbed over the wall into safety.

Just in time to dodge the waves.

I blinked at the sudden sunlight on my face. I hadn't realized that Miranda had collapsed my helmet. "Wha?" I slurred. "Your helmet is broken. I need to check your head."

"Oh. Okay." I said. I felt myself fading out of consciousness. "Hey! Hey stay with me. You've lost a lot of blood."

"No shit." I snapped. "Take my pistol. Go help Shepard and Grunt. Kill that thing."

Miranda opened her mouth and I shoved the pistol into her hands. "Go. I'll be fine. I'll always be fine."

Miranda frowned and took the pistol. I slumped against the wall and closed my eyes. "Fucking hell" I groaned. Explosions and gunshots echoed through the air and it was all so muffled. My head bobbed and I muttered something. I don't even know what I said.

"Really hoping that I don't die here. Don't want to do that again." I whispered. My eyes closed and I fell over.

Blackness.

"Hey! Hey Moira!" I opened my eyes and stared at Shepard. "You have pretty eyes." I said, the first thing that popped into my head. Shepard laughed. "I think you'll be okay." She slung my uninjured arm over her shoulder and picked me up in a bridal carry. I think I might have protested the act. I was still very out of it. I turned my head to the thunder of the defense cannons opening up. The shots were dead center on the Collector ship.

It was only a couple volleys before the ship's engines fired to life and it started to lift off. We watched impassively as it took to the sky, the cannons firing on it the whole while. "They have most of the humans on board. They got what they came for." Grunt said, his voice harsh and devoid of any sympathy.

"No!" a voice shouted. We turned to see the mechanic sprinting towards us. "Don't let them get away!"

"There's nothing that we could do." Shepard said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"No! Half the colony is in there! They got Egan and Sam and Lilith! Do something!"

The mechanic waved his arms, his desperation plain on his face as he seemed to try and reach up to drag the Collector ship back. "We did what we could." Shepard said as she passed me to Grunt. Grunted lifted me as if I was a small child and I took note of his cracked and burnt armor. "It was a good fight Shepard." Grunt said. "Aye. It was." I agreed.

A hell of a fight. Even if I had almost died.

"Shepard..Wait I know that name." The mechanic said and turned around. He glared at us accusingly. "Aren't you supposed to be some big Alliance hero?"

"Commander Shepard. Captain of the Normandy. The first human Spectre. Savior of the Citadel." A voice said. A human woman in white and pink armor came out from around a container. "You're in the presence of a god, Delan. Back from the dead." this human snapped at Delan the mechanic.

"All the good people that we lost and you get left behind. Figures. Screw this. I'm done with you Alliance types." He stalked off in a huff and before he could get very far, I screwed my eyes shut and flattened him with a light biotic blast against his chin.

He slammed into the ground, unconscious. "Moira!" Shepard snapped. "What?" I asked just a bit defensively. "We could have died here and he wants to be an ungrateful dick?"

"We'll talk about this later." Shepard promised. I rolled my eyes. "We thought you were dead, Commander. We all did."

"Technically I was. It's damn good to see you Ash." Shepard said, warmth flooding her voice. "Cerberus took two years to rebuild me."

This Ash stepped back in horror. This wasn't going to end well. "You're with Cerberus? The reports were right." Ash snapped. Betrayal written all over her face. "I'm working with Cerberus to stop the Collectors. I haven't joined them." Shepard snapped. I glanced at Miranda's face who looked a little annoyed at that.

"We got word that colonies were going missing and that Cerberus was behind it. We got a tip that this colony was next. That's why I came out here."

"Cerberus isn't behind the abductions. We want the same thing, to save the colonies." Shepard said. "Do you really believe that, or is that what they want to you to believe?" Ash snapped right back.

"Typical Alliance. Always willing to ignore the evidence right in front of their face." Miranda sneered. Shepard had taken her helmet off at some point and turned around to fix an almost demonic glare at Miranda, who retreated half a step before regaining her composure. "All of you go stand over there." Shepard snapped and we quickly got out of ear shot.

"Grunt." I said as soon as we were out of earshot.

"Yea?"

"Everything's killing me. Going to pass out now. Don't drop me."

I closed my eyes and let sweet sweet oblivion claim me.

_Sorry for taking so long, this was enjoyable to write but took longer than I thought it would. Tried to stay as true to the original campaign as much as I could with some slight alterations that I think would have had things make a little bit more sense. Such as a team 2. I'd like to thank the people on the Mass Effect wiki and those that uploaded videos on Youtube because they were a tremendous help. As always, I hope you all enjoyed. _

_-C.H. _


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